News

The police report that in the early morning hours of Sunday, before 2 AM, BuddZ’s reported an intoxicated person that wouldn’t pay his bill. The police arrested 27-year-old Luis DeJesus of Sheldon, and charged him with Public Intoxication and Fifth Degree Theft, both simple misdemeanors. He was taken into custody and transported to jail in Primghar.

A Sibley woman’s car and a Sheldon man’s SUV were damaged in an accident on Tuesday, January 8 in Sheldon.

The Sheldon Police Department reports that about 7:00 PM, 23-year-old Erika DeVries of Sibley was northbound on Washington Avenue in a 1992 Chrysler. A 2000 Jeep, owned by Barry Whitsell of Sheldon was legally parked on Washington. DeVries struck the Jeep and then according to the report, left the scene without leaving any information. She later reported to law enforcement that HER vehicle was struck by someone else while it was parked at the NCC Lifelong Learning Center.

Rock Rapids, Iowa — A Sioux Falls man who was wanted on several Lyon County burglary warrants is now in the Lyon County Jail.

On Saturday (1/12) the Lyon County Sheriff’s Department took custody of 46-year-old Charles Lee Long of Sioux Falls from the Union County, South Dakota Jail. Long had several outstanding warrants in Lyon County. Long was arrested for burglary in the 3rd degree, a class D felony.

He is accused of committing a burglary of Wiersma Construction in Inwood in November. He was also charged with two counts of possession of stolen property, a serious misdemeanor and a simple misdemeanor.

These charges stem from Long’s possession of stolen property in Inwood in 2012. This property consisted of tools from an Inwood contractor and a lawn sprayer from a victim in Rock Valley.

Long is being held in the Lyon County Jail with no bond because of a probation violation warrant issued in Lyon County.

Sanborn, Iowa — A Sanborn family is temporarily without a home after a house fire early Sunday morning (1/13), but their smoke alarms were all functioning, and woke them up.

Sanborn Assistant Fire Chief Scott Vogelaar says they were paged to a house fire about 3 AM Sunday morning. It was at 212 West Fourth Street in central Sanborn, the home of Kyle Carlson.

When the department got there, Vogelaar says they found heavy smoke, but not a lot of fire. He says the fire was contained to the garage, but the house did have significant smoke damage.

He says they fought the fire with two hose lines, and then to make sure they got all the fire, they pulled some ceilings down and removed some insulation. While they were doing that, he says they were also ventilating the building.

At this time, the assistant chief says the cause appears to have been electrical in nature. He says the fire started in the garage, possibly in an old fuse box.

All the occupants of the house were out by time they got there, but they were checked over by ambulance personnel just to make sure they were okay.

Vogelaar says damage was extensive. He says he would call the damage severe in the garage, but there was moderate smoke damage in the house.

The Sanborn Fire Department had about nine firefighters that responded. They also asked for help from the Sheldon Fire Company. They sent six firefighters. Vogelaar says Sheldon was basically called for an extra pumper and manpower.

Crews were on scene about 3 hours — until about 6 AM.

The assistant chief says the family is temporarily without a home, but he believes the family will be able to move back in.

According to Vogelaar, the Sanborn Police officer on duty that night actually called the fire in.

Drug Paraphernalia (file photo)Sheldon, Iowa — The Sioux County Sheriff’s Office has arrested three people in two recent incidents on drug-related charges near Sheldon and Hospers.

They report that on Friday evening (1/11), they investigated a report of a disturbance at an apartment complex near Northwest Iowa Community College, a mile west of Sheldon. As a result of the investigation, 22-year-old Bocephus Stell of Sheldon was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia.

Then, in the early hours of Saturday, (1/12), they arrested 19-year-old Brandon Lund and 20-year-old Brett Stark both of Hospers on charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. The arrests stemmed from an investigation that led to the execution of a search warrant on Friday, (1/11) at a Hospers home.

Akron, Iowa — A standoff that lasted for hours in Plymouth County ended peacefully on Friday.

The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office reports that about 3 PM on Friday, Deputy United States Marshals and the Woodbury County Task Force Officers from the Northern Iowa Fugitive Task Force attempted to arrest Geovany Gonzales-Gonzales at a rural home near Akron on K18 in Plymouth County.

Gonzalez-Gonzalez was wanted for failing to appear as ordered for a court hearing. He had originally been charged with drug trafficking.

Marshals were told by family that Gonzalez-Gonzalez was in the house and had a .38 caliber pistol in his possession. Gonzalez-Gonzalez was ordered out of his home, but did not surrender. Family members indicated that Gonzalez-Gonzalez was suicidal.

U. S. Marshals requested the assistance of the Plymouth/Sioux/LeMars Police tactical team to assist with the arrest. Iowa State Patrol officers as well as the Tactical Team and the Woodbury County Sheriff’s Office arrived to assist. At about 7:30 PM, an Iowa State Patrol negotiator, negotiated the safe surrender of Gonzalez-­Gonzalez to law enforcement personnel. Gonzalez-Gonzalez was booked into the Woodbury County Jail, and is waiting for court hearings.

Officers on the scene were assisted by Siouxland Paramedics and the Akron Fire Department.

Rock Rapids, Iowa — Central Lyon Middle School has earned the FBI-SOS (Safe Online Surfing) Internet Challenge’s National Award for November 2012 in the Middle School category. The Central Lyon students posted the best scores in the country amongst the “Shark” category to claim the highly coveted national award.

At the FBI-SOS Internet Challenge National Champions for November 2012, the students at Central Lyon Middle School received the FBI-SOS National Trophy and a visit from the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI. The official award ceremony took place on Monday, January 7, 2013, at 12:15 p.m. at Central Lyon Middle School in Rock Rapids.

Under the guidance of Mrs. Susan Van Wyhe, the students produced the top cumulative results on the FBI-SOS Internet Challenge post-quiz. The FBI-SOS is an Internet safety program developed and administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The monthly program, which runs each school year from September through May, is a free educational program that delivers critical Internet safety information in a fun, competitive format to students in grades three through eight. The program is open to public and private schools and is designed to meet state and federal Internet safety mandates. The goal of the program is to provide students with knowledge about how to avoid dangerous situations on the Internet, specifically Internet predators. Each month, students from registered schools learn about Internet safety as they participate in online games and activities. Upon completion, the students take an online quiz to test their knowledge. At the end of each month, three trophies (one for each school size category) are awarded to the schools with the highest scoring students on the FBI-SOS post-quiz.